Wall construction



June 19, 1923.

C. O. WALPER WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed July 2o. 1922 gat/ bmw/1215?;

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Patented .lune i9, l93.

CURRYIORA WALPER, OF DETROIT, IVIICIGAN, ASSIGNOR F ONE-THIRD T0 FRQNK A. MASLEN'AND ONE-THIRD TO BERNARD E. CLARK, BOTH OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

WALL CONSTRUCTION.

Application led July 20, 1922. Serial No. 576,262.

To all whom. it mary cof/wem.'

Be it known that I,.CURRY ORA WALPER,

a citizen of the United States of America,

. residing at Detroit, in the countyof Wayne v and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in fall Constructions, of which the following isua specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

|This invention relates to a constructlon of walls and ceilings of buildings and has for its primary object a provision of means by which a finishing surface coa t appl1ed to plaster boards or other composltlon wall boards may be protected from the injurious action of the nails or other fastening means used in 'securing the wall boards to their supports.

A further object of the invention 1s to provide a form of reinforcement for use 1n conjunction with the finishing coat o f a plastered wall to prevent cracking at points where the bending may occur over an underlying support.

Other objects will appear as the descrlption proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a horizontal section through a wall showing one embodiment of my 1nvention; Q

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail in elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a fragment illustrating a modii lied form of strip.`

rIhe use of plaster boards and other composition boards as substitutes for lathmg and plaster is increasing but 1t has been found diflicult to provide a satisfactory finish for the surface of such boards, particularly at the joints between their meeting edges. When a finishing coat similar to the putty coat used on ordinary plastered walls is applied to the surface of the plaster boards or other common wall boards cracks are likely to occur at the vertical joints along the studs, and at the horizontal joints where the boards are unsupported at the rear.

I In my co-pending applications, Serial No. 493,921, filed August 20, 1921, and Serial No. 576,948, filed July 24, 1922, solutions have been presented for the problem of preventing cracking at the joints. y

It has been found however that cracks will occur opposite a stud near the middle of a board where there are no meeting edges. Furthermore it has been the common practice to apply the ordinary plastering to walls and ceilings with only a subflooring of rough lumber in place because of thel litter caused by the ordinary method of plastering. After the Finishing coat of plasadditional row of nails is used along the central line of the boards to secure them to the intermediate joists or studs. After a surface coat of plaster is applied to such plaster boards, the job is readv for the carpenters and it frequently occurs that the jarring caused by nailing the fioors in place as well as the jarring occurring in the application of the wooden trim to door and window openings will cause the nails supporting the plaster boards and the boards themselves, to vibrate, and this vibration will produce a hammering action on the Icenter to center of the studs and joists, an

finishing coat opposite the nail heads sufficient to break thesurface. In some cases after a floor has been `nailed in place it is possible to locate the position of substan- .tween the edges of the boards.

Along the studs or joists over the nail heads upon the surface of the plaster boards are secured metallic strips 6 whlch may be of an open mesh wire netting. These strips may be narrow and only of sufficient strength to prevent the chipping or hammering action of the nail heads as indicated at the left 1n Fig. 2 or in Fig. 301` the strips may be of greater width as indicated at 7 at the right of Fig. 2, the strip being of sufficient wldth to extend across the joint between the meeting edges of the boards and over both rows of nail heads. The wider strip is preferable because of its additional function of acting as a reinforcement vto prevent cracking at the joint between the meetingedges of the boards. A similar strip 8 is applied along the middle of the board opposite the intermediate stud 1 .and this strip 8 is also preferably substantially as wide as the thickness of the stud, in order that it may act as a reinforcement to prevent cracking of the surface coat ll'along the edges of the intermediate stud. When pressure is applied upon the surface of the board between the studs there is a tendency for the rigid board to act as a lever with its fulcrum at the sharp edges of the stud causing an outward pressure at about the central line of the stud.

This will frequently result in a crack along astud where there is no meeting joint between boards.

The walls of wooden buildings are subject to other strains than those due to pressure upon the surface of the plastering or shocks due to hammering. In many cases the wooden framework is assembled into position while wet or before the lumber has becomethoroughly seasoned and the subse-. quent drying and shrinking of the wood will the present invention is to prevent injurious' action of the nail heads upon the surface coating l1.

In Fig. 3 a fragmentary detail is shown to illustrate the manner in which the narrow strips may be applied over nail heads at a point at which the boards break joints, as is .the case for example in the central portion of the upper edge of Fig. 2.

A modification is shown in Fig. 4 in which It will be obvious that other fabrics 1than woven wire may be used as a substitute therefor but it has not been deemed necessary to illustrate such obvious equivalents. The invention is therefore claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the 'legitimate andlvalid scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A wall structure comprising a composition board, a substantially unyielding member with which the central portion of the board is in contact on one surface, a surface coating on the opposite surface of said board, and a reinforcing fabric "embedded in said surface coating opposite the point of contact of the board with said member.

2. In combination a plaster board, a relatively rigid supporting member with whic the central portion of the board is in contact on one of its surfaces7 a surface coating adhering to the opposite surface of said plaster board, and a reinforcing fabric embedded within said vsurface coating opposite the point of contact of the board with said supporting member. j 4

3. A wall structure comprising a plaster board, a relatively rigid supporting member with which the board is in contacton one of its surfaces between its edges, securing means extending through the board into the supporting member, a surface coating upon the yother surface of the board from that in Contact with said supporting member, and a reinforcing fabric embedded within said surface coating opposite the point of contact of the board with said supporting member.

4. A structure as in claim 3 in which the reinforcing fabric lies between the fastening means and the surface coating.

5. A building structure comprising a composition panel, a support for said panel between its edges, fastening means extending through said panel into said support, a reinforcing strip overlying the exposed -portions of the fastening means, and a surface coating of` a plastic material covering the reinforcing strip.

6. A building structure comprising a composition panel, a support for said panel,`fas tening means connecting said panel and said support, a reinforcing strip overlying the exposed portions of the fastening means, and a surface coating of a plastic material covering the reinforcing strip.

7. A building structure comprising a composition panel, a support for said panel, securing nails extending through said board into said support` a reinforcing strip extending over the heads of the nails, and a surface coating of a plastic material overlying the 4 reinforcing strip opposite the heads of the with its support,' and a surface coating of nails. plastic material extending across the strip 8. A building structure comprising a supand adhering' to the plaster board adjacent A port, a oomposition panel secured to the thereto. 5 support between its edges by fastening In testimony whereof 1 affix my signature ymeans passing through said panel into said in presence of two Witnesses.

support, a reinforcing fabric extending CURRY ORA WALPER. along the surface of said panel over the eX- Witnesses: s posed portion of said-securing means and ARTHUR MINNIOK,

10 opposite the points of contact of the panel EMMA DEcmRoJ. Y 

